West Ham United v Tottenham Hotspur
Barclays Premier League
Boleyn Ground
Sunday 23 August
1.30pm
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
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Introduction
• West Ham United kick-off the 2009/10 Barclay Premier League home campaign with a visit of Tottenham Hotspur after an opening-day 2-0 win at newly-promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers last Saturday.
• Unlike their visitors, West Ham were not in action in midweek because their proposed opponents Aston Villa were in European action.
• Supporters should note that Upton Park station is open as normal after Transport for London delayed proposed engineering work that would have led to the closure of the station.
• Gianfranco Zola's side are in good form but so are Tottenham, after their 2-1 and 5-1 wins against Liverpool and away to Hull City last Sunday and Wednesday respectively. West Ham are next in league action on Saturday 29 August at Blackburn Rovers when Tottenham welcome newcomers Birmingham City.
• The clubs met as recently as 29 July at the Barclays Asia Trophy in Beijing. Tottenham won 1-0 thanks to a Jermain Defoe strike in the 75th minute.
The lineups were:
West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Upson, Collins, Ilunga, Boa Morte (Noble 14), Dyer (Parker 46), Collison (Spector 81), Jimenez (Hines 81), Stanislas (Savio 66), Cole
Subs: Stech, Kurucz, Spence, 'Gala, Tomkins, Gabbidon, Payne
Tottenham Hotspur: Cudicini, Hutton, Huddlestone, Corluka, Assou-Ekotto, Naughton (Lennon 70), Palacios (Livermore 82), Modric, O'Hara, Pavlyuchenko (Keane 46), Defoe
Subs: Gomes, Chimbonda, Dervite, Jenas, Bostock, Rose
• Gianfranco Zola is calling on his team to avoid complacency. He said: "We have to say 'OK, it was good to win at Wolves' but we must move on and think only about Tottenham. Now is already another chapter in the season and Harry Redknapp will make sure his team are a difficult side to play against. They have won their first two games and last season Tottenham caused us a lot of problems."
• Harry Redknapp has a welcome headache of four strikers to choose from. He said: "We've got four top strikers. It's difficult when you have top players like Peter and Roman Pavlyuchenko. They are not used to not playing and I understand that. They will play. It is a long season and at times we may change and play three forwards. They give me options."
• This is the 115nd league meeting between the two sides. Tottenham have won 46, West Ham have won 39 and there have been 29 draws.
West Ham United
• West Ham were in pretty good form in pre-season after just two defeats in seven matches. Unbeaten in their first four warm-up games, the Hammers then lost that game to Tottenham in the semi-final of the Barclays Asia Trophy before beating Beijing Guoan in the third/fourth play-off. Their final warm-up match last Saturday saw SCC Napoli leave the Boleyn Ground with the Bobby Moore Cup after a 1-0 win.
• Following Sunday's match, West Ham have a mouth-watering home game against local rivals Millwall in the Carling Cup. Two away trips in the league follow with Blackburn Rovers on 29 August and Wigan Athletic on 12 September.
• West Ham started last season strongly, winning four of their first six games in the league including an opening-day 2-1 win against Wigan Athletic, with Dean Ashton getting both of the goals.
• West Ham have not won their first two top-flight fixtures in a season since the 1997/98 campaign when they beat Barnsley and then Tottenham.
• The Hammers finished last season in ninth in the Barclays Premier League with 51 points, a place and two points higher than they managed in the previous season. They were level on points with eight-placed Tottenham.
• Carlton Cole was West Ham's leading scorer last season with ten Premier League goals, one in the FA Cup and one in the League Cup.
• Robert Green topped the appearance charts for the last campaign, playing every minute of every Premier League game. After his impressive display at Wolves, he has played 89 consecutive top-flight matches.
• James Collins is celebrating his 26th birthday on Sunday.
Last time out
Barclays Premier League, Saturday 15 August
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 West Ham United: Green, Faubert, Upson, Collins, Ilunga (Spector 65), Parker, Noble, Collison, Dyer (Stanislas 73), Jimenez, Cole (Nouble 90)
Subs unused: Kurucz, Gabbidon, Spector, Payne, Hines
Goals: Noble 22, Upson 69
Tottenham Hotspur
• Tottenham go into the match at the top of the Barclays Premier League after an excellent start to the season.
• Spurs are traditionally slow starters but are enjoying their best opening to a campaign since 1965. Jerman Defoe has summed up the confidence in the camp with five goals in his last three outings for Spurs and England.
• Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp made 175 appearances for West Ham between August 1965 and April 1972, scoring eight goals. Redknapp served as assistant manager under Billy Bonds before taking charge in August 1994. He remained as manager until May 2001, overseeing 327 matches.
• Tottenham have only lost twice in the last 15 meetings with West Ham and did the double over the Hammers last season for the first time since 1994/95.
• After this match, Tottenham travel to take on Doncaster in the Carling Cup second round on Wednesday.
Last time out
Barclays Premier League, 19 August 2009
Hull City 1-5 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham: Gomes (Cudicini 16), Hutton, Corluka, Bassong, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Palacios, Huddlestone, Modric (Bentley 85), Keane (Crouch 81), Defoe
Subs not used: Pavlyuchenko, Naughton, Chimbonda, O'Hara
Goals: Defoe 10, 45, 90, Palacios 14, Keane 78
Referee
• Saturday's referee will be Mark Clattenburg. The 34-year-old was the man in the middle for the Championship play-off semi-final first leg in May 2004 when Ipswich Town won 1-0 against the visiting Hammers. He has been on the Premier League list since 2004.
Head to head
• West Ham United have not won in the last six competitive meetings between the clubs. The last time the Hammers tasted success was the 2-1 home defeat of Spurs on 7 May 2005 when goals from Carl Fletcher and Yossi Benayon sandwiched Jermain Defoe's goal. That victory stopped Tottenham earning a UEFA Champions League place.
• Tottenham have also won on two of their past three visits with last season's closely-fought contest ending in a 2-0 success for the visitors. Roman Pavyluchenko scoed the only goal in the 65th minute. The lineups were:
Tottenham Hotspur: Gomes, Corluka, Woodgate, King, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Huddlestone, Jenas (Zokora 46), Modric, Bent (Pavlyuchenko 56), Keane
Subs not used: Cudicini, Bale, Bentley, Dawson, Chimbonda.
West Ham United: Green, Collins, Tomkins (Nsereko 81), Upson, Ilunga, Stanislas, Neill, Noble, Boa Morte (Dyer 71), Tristan (Sears 85), Di Michele
Subs not used: Lastuvka, Lopez, Payne, 'Gala.
• West Ham defender Calum Davenport, who is on loan at Sunderland, made 20 appearances for Tottenham between August 2004 and January 2007, scoring one goal.
• Spurs striker Jermain Defoe came through the ranks at West Ham before scoring 29 goals in 93 league appearances between 1999 and 2004. He is in his second spell at White Hart Lane after returning in January 2009
• Among the other players who have represented both clubs are Ilie Dumitrescu, Dave Dunmore, Matty Etherington, Les Ferdinand, Jimmy Greaves, Fred Griffiths, Pat Holland, Chris Hughton, Bill Joyce, Bill Kaine, Frederic Kanoute, Kenny McKay, Fred Massey, Fred Milnes, John Moncur, Jimmy Neighbour, Tony Parks, Martin Peters, Sergei Rebrov, Mark Robson, Peter Shearing, Teddy Sheringham, Mauricio Taricco, Mitchell Thomas and Bobby Zamora.
Last six meetings (Premier League unless stated)
11 April 2009 - Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 West Ham United
8 December 2008 - West Ham United 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
9 March 2008 - Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 West Ham United
25 November 2007 - West Ham United 1-1 Tottenham Hotspur
4 March 2008 - West Ham United 3-4 Tottenham Hotspur
22 October 2006 - Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 West Ham United
Overall record v Tottenham Hotspur (all competitions) W 43 D 34 L 55
Team news
• Gianfranco Zola will be without Herita Ilunga because of a fractured jaw. The left-back was initially thought to have escaped relatively unhurt from a clash of heads at Wolves but subsequent examination by club doctors and further tests revealed the extent of his problem.
• Zola has several choices to replace him including Jonathan Spector who replaced Ilunga at Molineux. The 18-year-old Fabio Daprela, a Swiss Under-19 international, is also standing by while Danny Gabbidon could also get his first Premier League appearance for 18 months by moving over from his usual centre-back berth.
• Luis Jimenez is set to get his first taste of Premier League football at the Boleyn Ground since arriving on a season-long loan deal from Internazionale.
• Frank Nouble made his West Ham debut in the closing stages against Wolves. The striker then featured in a midweek behind closed doors game at Watford. Radoslav Kovac and Daprela, both yet to figure this season since their transfers, also played while the goals came from Josh Payne's penalty and a Zavon Hines strike.
• Long-term absentees Valon Behrami, Luis Boa Morte, Terry Dixon and Dean Ashton will miss out.
• Switzerland midfielder Behrami has been working hard at Chadwell Heath as he continues his recovery from the cruciate knee ligament injury he suffered against Manchester City on 1 March. Such is his progress that he could be back in full training next week.
• Dixon is also progressing well and has started full training with the reserves.
• Boa Morte is recovering after undergoing knee surgery in Portugal and is yet to begin his rehabilitation work. He is not expected to return much before the end of the season.
• Ashton continues to work on his fitness as he recovers from an ankle injury.
• Carlo Cudicini is expected to start as Spurs are set to be without Heurelho Gomes after the goalkeeper suffered a groin injury at Hull City in midweek. David Button has been recalled from his loan at Crewe.
• Ledley King is expected to return after sitting out in midweek. Gareth Bale (foot), Jonathan Woodgate (achilles) and Jermaine Jenas (calf) are all unlikely to figure.
Travel information
• For directions for the Boleyn Ground, click here
General information
• For ticket news, click here.
• Sunday's weather forecast is for a sunny day with the temperature expected to be around the 22C mark.